JAPANESE PATRIOTISM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 17 May 1907, Page 3

JAPANESE PATRIOTISM.

NATION INSPIRED BY RELIGION. "Patriotism, if tlic word is sed in the Western sense, is totally inadequate to cover all that it implies to a Japanese mind. Taken In the Japanese sense, it may well lie regarded as religion, since it possesses the essentials oi any true religion—the recognition of supreme power controlling the affairs of man, the practice of certain rites of prayer and praise, and conformity .with rides' of life. "Patriotism means loyalty not in any limited sense, but to the family (dead apd living), to the clan or community, and to the State as the larger family. If covers a range of obligations which constitute an unwritten. but binding, code of mor;iK It carries with it tli:ii sense of moral responsibility, not ony for himself but for the State of wlicli he is a unit, which is stieli an (-x'iraordinary inspiration to the patriot, an.l inspires him to such heights of >eifsaerifice. The lives spent in the practice of patriotism do not always lie m the more showy paths of personal bravery. They are to be seen in the classroom, in the factory, in the Government office, in every department of modem Japanese is striving, without hope of personal reward, pecuniary or otherwise, to urge forward the development of his country. "The genuine nature of this inspiration, the lofty character of its idea/;, cannot be denied; but the whole fabric rests on a foundation of rani-mythic,il beliefs and antiquated social customs which will now have to stand the shock of contact and rivalry with the forces of democracy. Japan has deliberately adopted a course which commits her to competition with Western nations, and competition is a cruel master. The etlicail "basis of Japanese l'f" must be shaken by it, and the conditions it imposes destroy for ever the ancient civilisation founded on mutual responsibility and forbearance."